Some things just require more work and attention than others. The assembly and installation of the windscreen and canopy being a case in point. First, having assembled the windscreen, you need to ensure that the canopy edge matches absolutely when it is closed. So you need to assemble and install the canopy before you can fit the windscreen. You can then line the whole lot up, mark off, offer a prayer that all is good, remeasure, check again and finally commit to drilling the coaming holes.
This week has been somewhat nerve wracking in that way…
Happy to say that all seems to have come out well though.
Here are some pics and descriptions of the build this week:
The drilling and trimming of the Plexiglass canopy is potentially a hazardous exercise, the plexi being very brittle and prone to cracking. Using a Dremel tool at 25000rpm+ however ensures that the material melts before any stresses are induced and makes the task a lot easier. I started off using screws for the assembly however this does not clear the rear of the cockpit, so had to revert to rivets. Great care needs to be taken here to apply only the lightest pressure as the canopy will crack if you don’t.
I used a system as per the original Spitfire which incorporated bronze slippers running in the canopy rail. As I could not find bronze I substituted this with brass. Regrettably the sliding action is not sufficiently smooth, so I will redesign the mechanism with nylon rollers as used in the popular Vans RV sliding canopies.
I could then line up the windscreen with the canopy in full forward position before doing the final drilling and fixing of the coamings. The windscreen is now firmly mounted. I am still missing the top eyebrow section of the windscreen. For this I have designed a mould and have assigned a plastics vacuum forming company to manufacture it and vacuum pull a few samples. Along with the canopy, coamings and some machined parts, this will be something that I will make available at reasonable cost to prospective builders.
The instrument panel has been fitted to allow the final positioning of the internal coamings, gunsight carrier and gunsight dimmer bars. Again a painstaking process to ensure everything lined up correctly. I am very happy with the way this is coming together.
Work has now started on the door. The design needed some modification to ensure that the canopy rail remains unobstructed. The machined parts for the door latches are looking great.
Very nice Roel !!! Don’t feel too bad about the canopy runners…it was a constant problem in the real aircraft!
Thanks Darryl!